8th New York Asian Film Festival
June 19 - July 5, 2009 at IFC Center and Japan Society
The economy. Unemployment. Bank crisis. War. Missiles. Death. Is there any relief from the horrors that surround us? Yes! Like a knight in shining armor, the New York Asian Film Festival is back, charging over the horizon with some 50 brand-new pop masterpieces from Asia ready to bring hope, light and giant monsters into your heart!
In Cannes this year, the line-up welcomed several of Asia’s greatest directors into the new establishment. People like Johnnie To, Park Chan-Wook, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Bong Joon-Ho were given membership in the mainstream. Which begs the question: where are the young punks? Who are the new directors we need to look out for? This year’s New York Asian Film Festival answers that question. With over fifty films, we’re presenting an avalanche of talent that other festivals are too timid to touch. Many of this year’s directors are returning to our festival for a second (or third) time, and you don’t need a bunch of stuffy French people to validate your taste. These are, hands down, the most exciting directors out there today.
Indonesia’s Joko Anwar is back with THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, a movie that will boil your brain and dazzle your eyes. Malaysia’s Mamat Khalid turns in another of his retro-historical freak-outs, WHEN THE FULL MOON RISES. Feng Xiaogang, China’s most popular director, is back for a third time with IF YOU ARE THE ONE and Pang Ho-cheung’s EXODUS is a career high for one of Hong Kong’s funniest directors. Imagine David Cronenberg if he had a splatterhouse/comic book background and you’ve got Yoshihiro Nishimura, one of the most exuberant chroniclers of human mutation, back again with VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL after his jaw-dropping TOKYO GORE POLICE last year. Sion Sono has moved from low budget features to his epic four hour ode to religion and pornography, LOVE EXPOSURE, as well as the intimate drama of BE SURE TO SHARE. THE MAGIC HOUR’s playwright-turned-director, Koki Mitani, is Japan’s comic genius, and Ryoo Seung-Wan, Korea’s action master, turns in another impeccable flick with DACHIMAWA LEE. Triple threat Yang Ik-June bursts onto the scene with BREATHLESS and Wei Te-shang has singlehandedly saved Taiwanese cinema from extinction with his massive hit, CAPE NO. 7.
But most exciting for us is our opening night film, WRITTEN BY. In 2000, Subway Cinema was founded and our first event was a Johnnie To retrospective, which we paid for with our credit cards. Now, nine years later, the writer, producer and director of many of those films, Wai Ka-fai, and their star, Lau Ching-wan, are coming to our festival for the world premiere of their latest movie, WRITTEN BY. It’s enough to make us feel almost respectable. On top of that, Sion Sono will be here with BE SURE TO SHARE and LOVE EXPOSURE. Yoshihiro Nishimura will be here with his latest atrocity exhibition, as will Japanese action ace, Tak Sakaguchi. And the Korean actress, Kong Hyo-Jin, will be here with her star turn in CRUSH AND BLUSH (she’s also in DACHIMAWA LEE), and Korea’s hottest new male star, So Ji-Sub, will be showing up to introduce his star-making role in ROUGH CUT.
As the independent distribution scene in North America goes extinct, and as more and more distributors avoid gambling on Asian movies, there are less and less chances to see these films. But believe us when we say: take a chance. Buy a ticket. It’s hard to go wrong with this line-up and once you see these movies you’ll agree: the best movies in the world are coming from Asia. We do this festival out of a sick, hopeless, passionate and hard-to-understand love for these movies. All we can do is hope that you fall in love with them too.
Films
20TH CENTURY BOYS 1: BEGINNING OF THE END (2008)
20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE (2009)
ALL AROUND US (2008)
ANTIQUE (2008)
BE A MAN! SAMURAI SCHOOL (2008)
BE SURE TO SHARE (2009)
BLIND LOVE (2005)
BREATHLESS (2008)
CAPE NO. 7 (2008)
CHILDREN OF THE DARK (2008)
CLIMBER’S HIGH (2008)
THE CLONE RETURNS HOME (2009)
CRUSH AND BLUSH (2008)
DACHIMAWA LEE (2008)
DREAM (2008)
AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS (2008)
THE EQUATIONS OF LOVE AND DEATH (2008)
EXODUS (2007)
EYE IN THE SKY (2007)
FISH STORY (2009)
FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (1978)
THE FORBIDDEN DOOR (2009)
GEHARA: THE LONG HAIRED GIANT MONSTER (2009)
GO GO 70s (2008)
GROPER TRAIN: SEARCH FOR THE BLACK PEARL (1984)
GROPER TRAIN: WEDDING CAPPRICCIO (1984)
HIGH NOON (2009)
HARD REVENGE MILLY (2008)
HARD REVENEGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE (2009)
HOUSE (1977)
IF YOU ARE THE ONE (2008)
IP MAN (2008)
THE JAPANESE WIFE NEXT DOOR PART 1 (2004)
K-20: LEGEND OF THE MASK (2008)
LALA PIPO: A LOT OF PEOPLE (2009)
THE LONGEST NITE (1998)
LOVE EXPOSURE (2009)
MAGAZINE GAP ROAD (2008)
THE MAGIC HOUR (2008)
THE MONSTER X STRIKES BACK: ATTACK THE G8 SUMMIT (2008)
OLD FISH (2009)
PLASTIC CITY (2009)
PRIDE (2009)
QUICK GUN MURUGUN (2009)
THE RAINBOW TROOPS (2008)
ROUGH CUT (2008)
SAMURAI PRINCESS (2009)
SNAKES AND EARINGS (2008)
TACTICAL UNIT – COMRADES IN ARMS (2009)
TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008)
VACATION (2008)
VAMPIRE GIRLS vs. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL (2009)
THE WARLORDS (2007)
WRITTEN BY (2009)
WHEN THE FULL MOON RISES (2008)
YOROI: THE SAMURAI ZOMBIE (2009)
Short film selection from the 7th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival
LOVE IS PROTEIN (2008)
AULD LANG SUNE (2008)
EDEN (2008)
LIONESS(ES) (2008)
SHAGGY-DOG STORY (2008)
THE UNBEARABLE HEAVINESS OF NAGGING (2008)
WANTED (2007)
ENEMY’S APPLE (2008)
A COFFEE VENDING MACHINE (2007)
Guests
Wai Ka-fai (WRITTEN BY)
Kong Hyo-jin (CRUSH AND BLUSH, DACHIMAWA LEE)
So Ji-seob (ROUGH CUT)
Sion Sono (LOVE EXPOSURE, BE SURE TO SHARE)
Eiji Okuda (BE SURE TO SHARE)
Nick Chin (MAGAZINE GAP ROAD)
Mak Hei-Yan (HIGH NOON)
Daisuke Goto (BLIND LOVE)
Yoshihiro Nishimura (VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL)
Noboru Iguchi (VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL)
Tak Sakaguchi (BE A MAN! SAMURAI SCHOOL, YOROI: SAMURAI ZOMBIE)
Lee Su-jin (ENEMY’S APPLE)
